Borderline
by Scramm
Summary: Luka was resolute on living an ordinary life. But then again, she didn't expect to meet Miku. Miku/Luka. Vaguely based off of Romeo and Cinderella.
1. Chapter 1

These were the facts.

Miku, Hatsune Miku, was sixteen years old, a second year student at a private high school. It was a relatively prestigious one, a school that parents send their children to in hopes of teaching them grace and manners, as well as fostering connections and general prestige. It brought a lot of pride to say that one's child attended Doriko Academy.

Luka, Megurine Luka, was twenty years old, studying at an ordinary university. Her life up until then wasn't anything out of the norm: she was brought up in a middle-class family, went to a normal high school, where she had a normal high school life with normal high school friends, and proceeded to enter a normal university. In short, she was completely undistinguished.

The circumstances that brought a Doriko Academy student together with an ordinary college student went like so. If it helps, feel free to imagine the two aforementioned characters as trains.

Hatsune Miku was traveling east at three miles per hour. Megurine Luka was traveling west at three point five miles per hour, because she walked fast by nature and also because she had to get to the library in order to return a book. She was carrying said book in her hand.

Well then, you say, what's so special about that? Do they collide? If that's what happened, then we all know how these things go. In fact, such collisions had become dreadfully normal these days. They collide, and then their eyes meet. They become beset by stutters. They become stunned by each others' respective beauty. They help each other up, stammering out half-introductions. With luck, they might end up with each others' respective phone numbers, or they might end up getting coffee together - the point is, we all know how these things go.

However, that was not what happened. What happened was that, before any collision occurred, before anything really happened, even, Hatsune Miku fell in love.

Okay, you might say. Okay, now this is just ridiculous. They have not even exchanged pleasantries yet. People, _rational_ people, do not just run about falling in love with people they see walking down the streets. This story is testing your suspension of disbelief. In fact, this story is doing more than that. It is downright _insulting_ you. It is at this point where you would be throwing teacups and saucers around and stomping about, outraged, simply _outraged_ by the sheer gall of the story to have such a ridiculous event.

However, let me remind you that Hatsune Miku is far from being rational. Why? Because she is sixteen, and sixteen year olds, as a whole, are not known for their cool-headed judgment and impulse control. Sixteen year olds are, in fact, highly irrational. So it should come as no surprise that Hatsune Miku, a sixteen year old, would fall in love with Megurine Luka, a cool-looking twenty year old with a book under her arm.

But perhaps some more detail is needed.

Hatsune Miku was a girl who, deeply and truly, loved fairytales, and always dreamt of a prince to take her away from her troubles. Her favorite play was, incidentally, Romeo and Juliet. She identified strongly with their tragic love, despite the fact that up until now, she had never even been in love. She waited patiently for the day when she too would get to live out her fairy tale romance.

So, now would be the moment where everything changed for her. At the sight of Luka, Miku's heart started to hammer at exactly one hundred and twenty eight beats per minute. The world became bathed in a soft pink light and her mind filled up with a warm haze that obliterated all logical thought. It was a rather intense reaction; if Miku had been a little more aware of anything outside of Luka, she would have wondered if she had accidentally consumed something illegal.

Luka, on the other hand, did not suffer from such romantic illusions. A realistic woman, Luka saw nothing especially special about Miku. What she saw was this: there was a teenaged girl walking towards her; she was rather pretty and was dressed in the uniform of the famous Doriko Academy; her face was faintly flushed, most likely from the chill. That was the most Luka observed - after those few thoughts, her mind returned to her mission of returning her book before it was late. Normally, Luka would never have allowed herself to return a book so close to the deadline, but her final paper for history had required more time than she anticipated.

If Luka had her way, that would have been the end of it. Unfortunately for Luka, she didn't. Hatsune Miku was a girl who had been taught that, if she wanted something, she could take it. Her parents rarely denied her anything, and in Doriko Academy, people were generally brought up believing that they had a sort of right to whatever they wanted to possess.

So, Miku made the first move. She subtly altered her course of direction so that she was walking towards Luka. She then made her intentions clearer by staring directly at Luka as she walked closer.

Upon observing this change, Luka became rather distressed. She wondered, in the back of her mind, whether or not she knew this girl. After all, this teenager looked rather purposeful. Did Luka owe her money? As Miku approached, Luka became more and more worried; after all, one did not simply walk up to random strangers in the middle of the street. It simply wasn't done. Therefore, before Miku got too close, Luka cleared her throat and asked her, very politely, "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

Miku's grin (for she was wearing one and it looked rather predatory, which was a large reason why Luka was so worried in the first place) grew even wider. She shook her head. "Nope!"

"Nope?" Luka repeated. She glanced around. It was a normal busy street, people rushing to and fro on their way to whatever business occupied them. "Um. If you're selling something, I'm...kind of in a hurry-"

"Oh, that's no trouble at all," Miku assured her. "I'll be quick. What's your name?"

Luka hesitated. She wasn't in the habit of giving out her name to random teenagers on the street. However, this wasn't any random teenager - this was a random teenager from the prestigious Doriko Academy. Perhaps she was doing some sort of statistics project. "I'm...Megurine Luka. Is this for a project?"

"I'm Hatsune Miku!" Miku said, smiling, and she took out a pen and paper from her backpack. For Miku wasn't stupid - she knew that she had to have some sort of pretense to continue talking to this dashing stranger, and Luka's words provided her with the tools to lie. "Yeah, this is for a project, you know, a sociology one?"

"Sociology?"

"Yeah, just writing a report about people's, uh, lives," said MIku with what she hoped was a careless shrug. "I thought it'd be more interesting if I chose a random stranger off the street."

Luka glanced around. "Why me?"

"Why not you?" asked Miku. "You don't look like you're dangerous, or sketchy..." Miku trailed off before she glanced up at Luka's face with a grin, a slight teasing note in her voice. "Unless you are?"

Luka laughed. Something about Miku was, she thought, rather likable. "No, I'm just a normal college student."

"College?" Miku's interest was piqued. "What do you study?" So infatuated was she that Luka could have said something like 'manufacturing fertilizer' and Miku would think that it was the most laudable discipline in the world.

"Um, I'm undecided. Thinking of doing music."

"Music!" Miku's eyes widened. "That's really cool!"

"Thanks..." Luka trailed off once she remembered the book in her hand. "Oh. I'm kind of in a hurry, so. I have to return this book."

Miku's eyes flicked over to the book. "Oh, I see. Okay, don't let me hold you up," Miku smiled. If she played her cards right, then...

"Did you get everything you needed for your project?" Luka asked, and Miku could hardly stop herself from smirking. The rest of it would be easy.

"Well...no, not really," Miku said, putting on her best vulnerable expression. "But it's okay. I can ask someone else. Maybe I'll have to settle for someone sketchier than you, but..."

Luka winced. Who knows what could happen to some Doriko girl going around talking to random strangers? "No, that...that won't be necessary. When's this due? I can give you my..." Luka hesitated before forging on; it was too late to change her mind anyways. "I can give you my phone number and we can get back in contact sometime?"

Success. Miku had to fight to look surprised and not victorious. "Really? It won't be inconvenient?"

"Of course not," said Luka. "I don't have _that_ much to do."

"Well then," said Miku with a smile, pen already ready to write. "What's your phone number?"

What else could Luka do but to give her it? At the time, she didn't think too much of it. After all, she was only helping out a high schooler with her sociology project. No big deal, right?

It was in the days that followed that Luka began to wonder how different her life would be if she hadn't.


	2. Chapter 2

There was little fanfare in the time after. Luka went to the library, returned her book, and started the leisurely walk home. On the way back, she stopped by a coffeeshop and bought herself a cup of coffee.

"Anything interesting happen today?" asked the barista and Luka's roommate, Lily.

Now, by this time, the complete mundanity of life had essentially erased Miku from Luka's memory, so she only absentmindedly said, "No, not really. Just returned a book to the library for HIST250."

"Ugh," Lily slapped a hand over her face, "tell me about it. That class is awful."

Luka looked at her askance. "You don't even take that class."

'Hey, I'm the barista," said Lily. "People tell me everything, and at college, their problems boil down to classes, relationships, and-slash-or money."

That word, 'relationships', tinged something in Luka's memory, and at once Miku flashed in her mind. For a moment, Luka considered telling Lily about it, but after a second, she decided not to. It was probably nothing, just a girl who wanted Luka's help with a sociology project. Definitely not anything _near_ any sort of relationship outside of 'casual acquaintances'.

In fact, Luka mused as she walked out of the coffeeshop, latte in hand, it would be a stretch to even call them 'casual acquaintances'. Luka didn't know anything about Miku other than the fact that she was a student from Doriko Academy. She checked her watch. It was nearing five. She took a sip of her latte and ran over her schedule in her head. It was near the start of the semester, so the workload, other than the odd paper, was light. She would have enough time to help a high schooler with her sociology project.

Though she herself did not realize it, Luka was in a state of high anticipation, sort of like how one would feel if one had an appointment for getting one's wisdom teeth pulled, but had no idea when the appointment was until their orthodontist called them. In her dull college life, sad as it may be, getting accosted by a random high schooler had been one of the most exciting events for her thus far. She returned to her room and fixed herself some stir-fried beef with green peppers.

As she did so, Lily poked her head out of her room. "Are you cooking?"

"No," said Luka, "of course not, what could have possibly made you think that?"

"Cool," said Lily, and she plopped herself down on the couch. "Can I have some?"

"I said," said Luka as she cooked, "I'm not cooking."

"Is there rice?"

"Yeah. We still have some left over," Luka said as she glanced over at her phone, which sat on the counter. It had been two hours since she met Miku, and no call.

"Sweet," Lily leaned back against the couch and suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh, right! Gumi and Cul and the others want to come over later to play King's Cup. Are you down?"

"I don't know, I have a lot of homework," Luka lied.

"Who cares?" said Lily, passionately. "It's a Friday night! Come on."

Luka hesitated and doled out the food onto a plate in lieu of an answer.

"So you agree?" said Lily.

-xxx-

The next thing Luka knew, the room was full of people, there was a big red cup on the table, and she was drinking something that seemed to be comprised of one part orange juice and two parts vodka. She struggled to force it down. Her nostrils burned each time she exhaled.

"I can't remember the rules," Gumi groaned, leaning back against the couch. "This is awful."

"Your face is awful," said Cul, and for some reason she found this so incredibly funny she repeated it again until Lily told her to shut up.

Luka ducked her head and rubbed at her eyes. She was not the type of person who was energetic under the influence. More often than not, she was lethargic and quiet. She checked her phone for the hundredth time. It was nearing midnight. Miku probably wouldn't call; Doriko Academy kid, she probably slept early and woke up early like a good girl.

Of course, it would be right as Luka was thinking that when Miku called. Luka's ringtone blared throughout the room and everyone stopped talking and stared at her.

Gumi spoke first. "Who's that?"

Luka stared numbly down at the phone. She did not recognize the number. "I don't know."

"Answer it!" Cul shouted.

Luka did so and tried to sound as sober as possible. "Hello?"

"Is this Luka?" said Miku.

"Who is it?" Lily asked.

"Oh no," said Luka, realizing how inebriated she was.

"Excuse me?" said Miku, sounding prim and proper, every inch a refined Doriko girl.

"I have to go," said Luka, stepping over Gumi's legs.

"You have to go?" said Gumi. "Wait! Where're you going?"

"Is this a bad time?" Miku asked.

"No, no, it's not a bad time at all!" Luka stumbled and caught herself before she fell.

"Oh," said Gumi, drawing out the 'Oh'. "Is it...possibly...a _lover?"_

"What?" Lily's eyes practically bugged out. "What the hell! You didn't tell me about that! Who is it?"

"I'm just helping someone out with their sociology project!" Luka protested.

"Um, right, sociology..." said Miku, slowly.

Luka gave up on communicating with her drunken friends and fled to her room, whereupon she shut the door. Her balance wobbly, she made her way to the chair and sat down on it. Her mind was undulating in smooth waves as dread stirred in her gut. She needed to sober up. Luka took a deep breath, waited for her mind to calm, and then spoke.

"I'm sorry about all that," said Luka, as articulately as possible. "So what do you need help on?"

"Are you sure this is a good time?" asked Miku.

"Yes," said Luka. "I would be happy to, um, help you."

"Okay," said Miku. She paused. "Well, for my sociology project, how about we meet up tomorrow? It's a Saturday."

"Meet up?" said Luka.

"Yeah," said Miku. "The project requires some more personal communication. It's not really something that can be done over the phone, so I wanted to schedule a time that was convenient for you."

In her tipsy state, Luka was easily impressed, and Miku sounded so calm and proper that she was awed. Naturally, she bought fully into Miku's sociology story. If Miku was a fisherman and Luka a fish, Luka would have been cut, skinned, and dried by now. "I'm free all day tomorrow, actually."

"Ah, good," said Miku. "How about noon? We can get lunch and talk over it."

That request sounded perfectly reasonable to Luka. "Sure. Where?" Inwardly she braced herself for a blow to her wallet.

"Anywhere is fine. We can just get something cheap," said Miku. Unbeknownst to Luka, Miku was currently on her computer and looking up places that were both cheap enough for a college student's budget and had horrendously slow service so as to prolong their lunch time together. "How about Chinese? You like mapo tofu?"

Luka gave the affirmative.

"Okay," Miku sounded pleased."We can meet up where we met. How about in front of the coffeeshop at noon, then?"

Luka agreed. It was only after she hung up when she remembered that Lily worked at the coffeeshop.

-xxx-

Now let us zoom out, so to speak, and focus on Miku.

At school, Miku was popular and well-known among her classmates. Her personality and mood was capricious; sweet and innocent one moment, mischievous and cunning the next. In different social groups, she was a whole range of Mikus, without any of them being close to her true personality. Sweet and dark, soft and light, vivid and solid...not even Miku knew who she was exactly. This was not a fact that concerned her overmuch. From all appearances outside, Miku was a sealed, bulletproof vessel.

She was a sealed, bulletproof vessel now, standing in front of the coffeeshop. She came five minutes early, as was her wont. Being fashionably late was a convenient excuse for people who couldn't be assed to know the time.

Luka came promptly at noon, and at the sight of her, Miku felt her lips pull up into a smile. The woman looked vaguely anxious for some reason, her head darting to and fro as though she was a thief about to steal a jewel. When she sighted Miku, she jogged forward.

Miku smiled at her. "Hello."

"Hey," said Luka. She looked ill-at-ease, constantly glancing inside the coffeeshop. Miku looked. There was a blonde-haired woman inside, the barista, who was looking inquisitively at the two of them. Miku frowned inwardly. That woman could be anything from a current girlfriend to a casual acquaintance. Best to get _that_ out of the way now.

"Do you know her?" Miku asked, keeping her voice light.

Luka gave a guilty start. "Oh...she's my roommate," she said with a small laugh.

"Oh," said Miku. Even that was vague. Best to get straight to the heart of it. "So, she's your girlfriend?"

"What?" Luka stared at Miku before hurriedly shaking her head. "No! Of course not...we're friends. We live on campus, she's...roommates are randomly assigned."

"Ah. Sorry, it was just the way you looked so nervous," said Miku, grinning. "It's a sociology project, not a date." She watched Luka's face carefully for any change in expression. Save for embarrassment, there was nothing, but that was okay. The idea of 'date' has been planted already, even though Miku hadn't actually overtly said anything yet. According to her psych class, just saying a word could cause someone to form connections with it to the person who said it. Small steps. Miku was patient. "Anyways, would you like to go now? The tofu place is close."

"Sure," said Luka, and the two of them started walking. "So...when is this project due?"

"It won't be due for a while," said Miku. "It's one of those big, long projects, you know."

"Oh," said Luka. "So what do you have to do with this project?"

Miku shrugged. "It's really vague. I don't think our teacher even knows that much about sociology, honestly. It's more of a psych project than a soc one I think. I'm just taking it as an elective. I think I just have to ask you questions about your life and things."

Luka laughed. "My life isn't very interesting."

Miku grinned. "It can't be less interesting than mine. You're in college."

"The life of a college student is tremendously overrated. Anyways, you go to Doriko Academy, so I'm sure your life is fascinating."

Miku's grin widened. One could almost call it predatory, if it wasn't for the fact that Miku was, of course, a demure and respectable girl. "Hardly. In fact-"

Miku would have continued on, if it wasn't for the fact that she spotted one of her classmates walking down the street. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem. In school, Miku took pains to ensure that she would be, for lack of a better term, the school idol. Her grades were top-notch, her behavior impeccable. So, if it had been any other student, Miku would have greeted them charmingly.

Unfortunately, this particular student was Kagamine Rin, delinquent extraordinaire, with a Casanova of a brother and a penchant for road-rollers. In elementary school, Rin had terrorized the playground. Now that she was a teenager in high school, she had blossomed into a rebellious conniver. Her parents had sent her to Doriko in hopes of mellowing her, to little avail. When Rin first met Miku, she had her pegged as a little more than a good girl who was probably terrified of bugs or something stupid like that.

Miku had proved her very, very wrong, and in doing so, won Rin's respect. It was a nice thing to have, really, since by doing so Miku could avoid the trouble of constantly dealing with Rin's clique. But at the current moment, when Miku was trying hard to sell the image of a perfect Doriko Academy student to her crush, running into Rin, someone who knew how duplicitous Miku could be, was something that could very quickly throw her plan off rails.

"Is she a friend of yours?" Luka asked, oblivious to complex high school social dynamics.

"Um," said Miku.

"Ah, Miku," Rin drawled. "Is this your newest squeeze?"

Miku decided to go for her studious class president persona. "Oh. Kagamine. Pleasure to see you today."

Rin laughed. "Come off it, Miku, remember who you're talking to?"

Miku groaned, grabbed Rin by the arm, and took her a ways off from the thoroughly confused Luka. "Rin, I know this is hard for you, but play along with me, okay?"

"Miku," said Rin, glancing over at Luka, "she looks like she's in college. If this gets out, you'll be in deep trouble. Isn't dating against the rules, Class President?"

"Since when did I care about the rules?"

"Touche."

"Anyways, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be spraying graffiti on something?"

"I'm visiting my cousin. She works at the coffeeshop."

Miku's eyes widened. "Your cousin is Luka's _roommate?_"

Rin stared at Miku. "You're trying to date someone who's _four_ years older than you?...well, she is pretty good-looking, I guess, but I didn't even know you were into girls."

"I'm not! I'm just into her."

"Same thing. Anyways, you should probably go back to her, she looks confused." Rin patted Miku on the back. Miku nodded and the two of them walked back to Luka.

"Luka," said Miku, "this is my classmate, Kagamine Rin. Rin, this is my-um, this is Megurine Luka."

Rin smiled at Luka. "Nice to meet you."

"Oh," Luka said. "You're my roommate's cousin, right? She brought you up sometimes. Nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah, I guess," Rin said. Her eyes drifted over towards the coffee shop. "Anyways, I'm going to get going. You two have fun now."

Miku laughed nervously. "Y-yeah, definitely. See you Monday."

Luka followed Rin with her eyes, and Miku quickly grabbed hold of Luka's arm, forcing the older woman to look down at her in surprise.

"So," said Miku, smiling guilelessly, "tofu?"


End file.
